Celebrating the Future of Battle Hall

April 22, 2014
Former First Lady Laura Bush helps launchs a fundraising effort for preservation and improvements to Battle Hall and an expansion to the West Mall Office Building
Dean Fritz Steiner and former First Lady Laura Bush discuss Battle Hall, the first architectural masterpiece of the University of Texas campus. Photo by Marsha Miller.

Laura Bush Chairs Fundraising Effort

On April 16, the School of Architecture and the Architecture and Planning Library welcomed former First Lady Laura Bush [MLS '73] to a luncheon in Battle Hall. [Mrs. Bush is a 1973 graduate of the Graduate School of Library and Information, now known as the School of Information, and a 2012 recipient of the Texas Exes Distinguished Alumnus Award.] The occasion was to launch a fundraising effort for preservation and improvements to Battle Hall and an expansion to the West Mall Office Building to be named after John S. Chase, FAIA [M.Arch. '52], the first African-American to enroll at the University of Texas and the first African-American registered architect in Texas. Mrs. Bush has graciously offered to serve as honorary chair for the fundraising effort.

Before the luncheon, Dean Fritz Steiner, Vice Provost and Director of UT Libraries Fred Heath, and Architecture and Planning Librarian Beth Dodd led Mrs. Bush and guests on an extensive tour of Battle Hall's reading room, stacks, special collections, and highlights of the Alexander Architectural Archive. After touring Battle Hall, the group visited the site of the proposed John S. Chase addition on Inner Campus Drive, which currently serves as a parking lot and loading dock for the U.S. Post Office in the West Mall Office Building. The tour concluded with a visit to the University Co-op Materials Lab and the Center for Sustainable Development in the West Mall Office Building, which will also be renovated as part of this project.

In opening the luncheon, Dr. Heath noted, "For more than a century now, this grand building has provided a home for many important aspects of university life, always including a library function. For many years now, I've felt that librarians and architects share a Renaissance perspective, that is an acceptance of the responsibility to think holistically about the human condition. And for a good many years now, the Architecture and Planning Library staff have enjoyed just such a relationship with our good friends and colleagues in the School of Architecture."

Dean Steiner thanked Mrs. Bush for her service and commitment to this project, noting that her "enthusiasm for Battle Hall comes from a commitment to history, an appreciation for architecture, a devotion to Texas, a love of libraries, and a fondness for this university."

"Everything that I'm interested in converges here," said Mrs. Bush. "My dad was a builder, I'm a proud graduate of the Library School, and my home was designed by a School of Architecture faculty member. I'm thrilled to be involved and help show the world how we value the history of this building and all that it means to us as Texans."

At the conclusion of the luncheon, Mrs. Bush and guests were presented with a special memento, a book of impressive photographs taken by fourth-year architecture student Nathan Sheppard, who is also a student employee of the Architecture and Planning Library. The photos were made as part of a project in Professor David Heymann's seminar, "Digital Photography: Architectural Potential." [Heymann designed President and Mrs. Bush's ranch house in Crawford, Texas, a model of sustainable design.]

This event formally launched a fundraising initiative for a very important project in the life of the school and the university. This is the first phase of an extensive capital improvement project, and further announcements will follow as plans develop. If you are interested in supporting UTSOA's effort to make this project a reality, contact the school's director of development, Luke Dunlap, at luked@austin.utexas.edu.